Can a chicken lay an egg that is not fertile?

Answer 1

Chickens will sit on a ceramic egg. They have no way to tell that the egg is bad. See link below for this definition: Nest egg The allusion is to putting a real or china egg into a hen's nest to encourage her to lay. The connection between this and the 'savings' meaning isn't exactly clear. It may be that the idea was that the egg that was put into the nest could be later retrieved, after the hen had laid.

Answer 2

It needs to be fertilized by a rooster first. The same reason a woman's eggs don't automatically become babies; they need to have sex with a male to fertilize them first. A woman's eggs drop monthly. When they aren't fertilized, their body scraps the egg and starts over (hence the menstrual cycle). When it is fertilized (in a woman), the egg grows and grows into a fetus. When a woman's water breaks, this is similar to an egg cracking, and the baby is ready to be born. The same thing happens with chickens, except once fertilized, the chicken births the egg and the chick develops outside of the womb in the egg. Once it has grown enough it breaks the egg and is "born." This cycle can happen every day with a chicken, or several times a week at least. When a rooster is absent, the chicken will continue to drop eggs on its cycle. The eggs people eat are all unfertilized (or are supposed to be) as roosters are kept out of the hen house. Sort of like a nunnery.

Answer 3

Yes. A hen will lay 200-250 eggs each year, none of them need to be fertilized. The eggs that you buy in the store are not fertilized. I have a small flock of chicken in my backyard, they are all hens and they lay eggs like clockwork.

Answer 4

Food Perfectly good nutrition for humans and animals alike.